Back when California Governor Jerry Brown was the governor of California in the '70s and early '80s, he was known for being frugal – at least for a state leader. He made two memorable decisions in this regard, by choosing to live in an apartment by the state capitol and turning down a chauffeured limo and instead drive himself around in a Plymouth Satellite.

When he was elected back into office in 2010, he also decided to live a little more frugally, this time driving himself around in his own 2008 Pontiac G8. But the Sacramento Bee reported Thursday that Governor Brown is actually riding around in a 2008 Chevy Suburban that was purchased for his predecessor – the Governator, Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Jerry Brown pretty much told David Siders from the Bee that the old G8, after 100,000 miles, was beat to crap and that "There was a reason Pontiac went out of business."

The Suburban, according to the Governor's office, is a temporary fix to get Brown around town and was just a leftover part of Arnie's fleet they had kicking around. But it's far more car than Gov. Brown needs and doesn't get more than, what, 17 or 18 mpg?

Which leads me to wonder, why hasn't someone sold Jerry Brown a Tesla Model S yet? Seems like a pretty obvious choice for the governor of California who's also an environmentalist. Tesla is based in Palo Alto and the car is made just up the road in Fremont. Elon Musk should get Jerry on the phone.

Sure, there's the issue of price. The Model S Performance Plus and a couple of niceties is $100,000 before all of the tax incentives and the governor's salary is around $173,000 per year. But if you use Tesla's magic financing calculator, maybe it makes money sense? It makes more practical sense than the Smart ForTwo electric Jerry Brown was eyeing last week, as reported by the Bee.

Still, a Model S seems like a no-brainer as gubernatorial transportation. Think of the photo opportunities at the supercharging stations!